


Drift Compatible

by darthneko



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender, Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Alternate Universe - Pacific Rim Fusion, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-03
Updated: 2017-10-03
Packaged: 2019-01-08 10:55:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12252921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darthneko/pseuds/darthneko
Summary: "What's it like, getting back into the conn pod with someone new? How do you even do that?"





	Drift Compatible

**Author's Note:**

  * For [wnnbdarklord](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wnnbdarklord/gifts).



There were scaffolding rigs all around the massive hangar bays, ramps and walkways for the engineers to scramble up and down, swarming like industrious bees over their charges. The whole of the Shatterdome transformed into a buzzing hive of activity during the day and it was only in the very late and very early hours that the bays fell silent, tools abandoned, lights dimmed, and the giant figures of the Jaegers resting, ever vigilant, in their launch cradles. 

Raleigh liked the silence. It drowned out the ghosts in his head, on bad nights, and the warm glow of the launch cradles was both soothing and reassuring. Silence was never entirely silent, not with the thrum - more felt than heard - of so many massive engines, throbbing through the emptiness of the hangar like a heartbeat. Even the scaffolding felt different under his feet, more solid and warmer to the touch than what they'd used in construction, _alive_ in a way nothing else was. This was the heart of the Shatterdome, even more than Control, the living, breathing core of all of them, and he hadn't known how much he'd missed it until he felt it again.

There was a spot high on the walkways that afforded the best view. Raleigh climbed it at a brisk clip, his boots clattering on the steps, and only slowed as he reached the top, his eyes going automatically to the nearest bay where a familiar visage stared down. "Hey, girl," he said softly, his own smile feeling unfamiliar and bittersweet, "miss me?"

Gipsy Danger couldn't respond but the slow pulse of a light somewhere in the bay flickered across the Jaeger's visor, giving the illusion of a wink. Raleigh shook his head at his own folly - he wasn't alone, almost all pilots gave human traits to their Jaegers, but talking to the giant machine sometimes felt like a step too far. Even still, he could imagine there was something, some remnant of the neural link and countless hours that left a faint echo of familiarity baked into circuit and metal. They weren't alive, but there was something there all the same, something that made Gipsy Danger different than every other Jaeger in the bay - she was _his_. 

Awash in the unique sound and feel of the hangar, he might have missed the body tucked up against the rails if it hadn't been nearly in his own chosen spot. As it was, it pulled him up sharp, making him stumble. "Oh, hey - sorry, didn't know anybody else was up here."

The man - kid, really, and God, they were all _so young_ now, he felt like he'd aged ten years for every one, emerging from a nightmare of barely living back into the real world only to find he'd become an old man - just shrugged. He was one of the Bender Nations recruits and Raleigh glimpsed dusky skin and a partially shaved top knot when the light caught the boy's profile. Familiar, but Railegh had been introduced to so many people in the last twenty-four hours that he wasn't sure if the kid was Mission Control or engineering. He was sitting on the walkway, legs dangling off the edge between the rails, and he waved a hand at Raleigh. "It's fine. Plenty of room, and it's not like anyone owns this spot." He paused, expression twisting dubiously. "Well, LOCCENT might."

"Control owns all of us," Raleigh agreed. He hesitated, then slid down to sit on the edge of the walkway. He'd come up to the scaffolding for the silence but the boy's voice, colored with the unfamiliar Nations lilt to his accent, didn't catch on any of the rough spots from his nightmares. "Raleigh Beckett," he offered after a beat, extending a hand.

The boy brightened, his eyes lighting up with the recognition Raleigh was coming to expect from inside the Shatterdome. "Gipsy?" He asked, and when Raleigh nodded he reached to shake hands. His grip was stronger than Raleigh had anticipated, and the shape of the callouses was unexpectedly familiar. "Sokka," he introduced himself, and let go to jerk a thumb to the far side of the hanger, the bay opposite where Raleigh's Jaegar rested. "Lunar Tsunami."

Raleigh leaned past the rails to get a clearer look and had to whistle. His heart might belong to Gipsy Danger, but he could appreciate the design that went into later model Jaegars and the Lunar Tsunami was a beautiful Mark-5, straight out of the best Earth Kingdom manufacturing yards. Armor heavy but sleek, like a glacier poised to roll over the enemy, all in deep shades of ice blue. He had, he remembered belatedly, been introduced to the pilots in passing while Pentecost was showing him around the Dome - a brother and sister team from the Southern water tribe, and it would have taken a blind man to miss the silent war going on between them and the Northern tribe triplets who piloted Crimson Typhoon. Rivalry, Raleigh guessed, and ego, because Jaeger pilots always had more than their share. 

"She's a beauty," he said outloud and Sokka nodded, but his own gaze was on Gipsy Danger's black finish. 

"I'd never seen one of the old models before we came here," he admitted. "She's a Mark-3?"

"Old school," Raleigh agreed, and it was no slight to his girl, not when she'd been through hell and back and was still standing tall. "Nothing but nuclear and the best guns they could strap on her."

Sokka shook his head admiringly. "You've got balls," he said. Raleigh just shrugged; the same could be said of anyone willing to climb into the conn pod of a Jaeger. 

Politeness exchanged, they sat in silence for awhile. When Sokka spoke again it startled Raleigh, who had started to doze in the familiar feel and sound of the hangar. The boy's voice was lower, as though he didn't want the sound to carry, and his blunt words caught Raleigh by surprise. "What was it like? Losing your brother?"

The shock ripped away any trace of calm or sleep, reaching into Raleigh's chest and squeezing hard against his heart and lungs. For a moment he couldn't breathe, the nightmare rearing up and ice cold water flooding all around him. "What-" he managed, then had to swallow, hard. "Why?" He tried instead, his voice rough. "Your sister..."

Sokka waved a hand, the same negligent gesture he'd invited Raleigh to sit with. "Katara's fine," he said. "Better than fine." He grimaced. "Sorry, I shouldn't have sprung that on you. I just... what's it like, getting back into the conn pod with someone new? How do you even do that?"

Raleigh breathed out, waiting for the pounding of his heart to ease, trying to push the nightmare back. "I don't know," he managed at last, when he could trust his voice to be steady. "Haven't done it yet, have I?"

The boy's shoulders slumped. "No, guess you haven't."

He could get up. It was a huge hangar, plenty of other places to go, plenty of other places all through the Shatterdome. Raleigh breathed in and out, tasting the unwelcome burst of adrenaline from his memories on the back of his tongue, and made himself unclench his hands from the railing supports. "Why?" He asked at last. 

Sokka was kicking his boots back and forth in the open air below the walkway. "Because I don't get how anyone can do it," he admitted after a few beats. "After drifting... after you've been in the drift with someone, how can you turn around and do that with anyone else?"

They were a motley collection at the Shatterdome, the last that the Jaeger program had to offer in humanity's darkest hour, and Raleigh wasn't the only pilot dug out of retirement and pressed back into service. Involuntarily, his eyes went down the length of the hangar to a Mark-4 that could have stepped out of a museum display, every line modeled after a suit of armor fit for an Emperor in gleaming red and black and gold. If he were going to have this conversation with anyone his money would have been on _that_ one, on a bitter, awkward comparison of scars between himself and the sullen Fire Nation Prince, lone surviving pilot of the Dragon of the West. Zuko, his name was, and he was already in the trials that Raleigh would start the following day, battering his way through the available recruits with a snarl that challenged any to take his uncle's place at his side. 

He hadn't expected it from someone like Sokka, a successful pilot of a Jaeger with an impressive kill count. And he hadn't expected the question to be so specific, instead of a morbid prod at the loss itself.

"I don't know," he said truthfully. "I guess I'll find out." Raleigh breathed out slowly, trying to exhale the tension from his shoulders and ribs, where he could still feel the fiery lines of old wounds. He tried to grin, something easy going and deflective, and found it felt more like a grimace. "Tell me you didn't ask Zuko the same thing."

Sokka snorted. "Do I _look_ like I'm suicidal?" he scoffed. "No, don't answer that." He swung one foot hard enough to clang against the walkway grating from underneath, and the dim lights picked out the hard line of his expressive mouth. "Katara," he said at last, the words reluctant, "sparred with him today." 

Raleigh blinked. His first thought was 'why', because there was no reason for a partnered pilot to take part in the trails of a pilot looking for someone drift compatible. His second, after a moment of thought remembering the portion of Zuko's trials that he had watched that afternoon, was incredulous dismay. "Your sister," he said tentatively. "Long hair?" He gestured vaguely to his temples. "Braided here?"

Sokka nodded glumly and Raleigh winced. "Um," he managed. The reason for Sokka's mood was suddenly painfully evident. Raleigh had seen a lot of trials in his life, and a lot of drift compatible partners sparring, but the fight between Zuko and the girl - Katara - had been... "Um," he managed again, less eloquently. "That was... Ah..."

"Yeah," Sokka said heavily. " _That._ " He hunched inward, shoulders contracting. "It's even worse when she spars with Aang." He must have caught Raleigh's bewildered look because he shrugged, raising one hand to sketch a line about shoulder high on himself. "You know - bald kid? Airbender? The Avatar?"

There was a breathless moment of freefall when you first plugged into the neural net and stepped into the Drift; Raleigh felt a little like he had hit that step, only without any Drift to catch him as he fell. "The Avatar? _Here?_ " But of course he would be - if any Jaeger was still left to hold the line it would be the Avatar, the shining star at the utmost pinnacle of Bending Nations design. Raleigh scrubbed a hand over his face, trying to recall any scraps of the news he had been desperate to avoid since he had left the life of a Jaeger pilot behind. "But... Avatar Roku..."

"Fell to a category four fire Kaiju, holding the ten-mile line off Ember Island," Sokka said, puzzled. "I would have thought even the Americas would have broadcast that news. Aang's the new Avatar. Nice kid, but... seriously, he's like a kid brother, but Katara..." he shook his head, blowing out a hard breath. "Look, do me a favor? If Katara shows up at your trials tomorrow, tell her no, would you? I can't take much more of this."

Raleigh grimaced. "Deal," he agreed. "Look, Sokka - don't read too much into it, okay? Your sister... I've seen that kind of thing before. Katara's really empathic, right? Feels everything, but _more?_ " Sokka nodded, his expression dubious, and Raleigh tried to put some firm assuredness in his voice. "People like that, they can be compatible with more than one person, at least for a little while. But that's all it is, a little while, flash in the pan. Lots of people get off on the high from a drift compatible sparring session. But it's not like the Avatar takes another pilot, right? Only Jaeger designed for going solo, and the right pilots for it are one in a million. And Zuko..." he shrugged. "I thought it was done and over after that fight, but they bowed, she left, and he went right on to the next recruit." 

He drew in a breath, the last of the tension easing. "You're her brother," he said firmly. "You're the one she's going to come back to. Who else knows her rabbits as well as you do?" The smile came easier that time, a little bittersweet and wry. "Besides... you think she's going to replace you with a firebender? Fire and water - they'd never make it out of the hangar without exploding."

Sokka snorted, his laugh reluctant and half choked. "You might be right," he admitted. 

"Sure I am," Raleigh replied, grinning. He glanced up, eyes tracking over the dim shapes of the massive Jaegars that circled the hangar. His own Gipsy and the hulking shape of Cherno Alpha were the only older models still standing; the others ranged from the majestic elegance of the firebending Dragon of the West to the deadly grace of the waterbending Lunar Tsunami and Crimson Typhoon. Beyond them he could just see the solid shape of Striker Eureka, the earthbending Jaeger piloted by the father and son Hansen team out of Ba Sing Sei, and the even more imposing shape of the Blind Bandit from Gaoling, the pilots of whom had been out during his round of introductions. "I envy you," he sighed. "Gipsy... she's a beauty, and I wouldn't trade her, but she's nothing but metal and circuits. Bending... I can't imagine it."

Sokka was silent for a long moment, his face unreadable in profile. "Yeah," he said at last, sighing. "Join the club."

Raleigh turned to look at him fully, unsure if he had heard right. "But you're... your sister..."

The boy shrugged, defensive sheepishness written in the line of his shoulders. "Watertribe, but it's not like we're _all_ benders, right?" he said. "And Katara... she's just that good. Amazing, really. I know the motions," he added, sitting up straighter, his hands weaving a graceful loop in front of him, push and pull through the air, "because I have to, we have to do it in synch, you know? But Katara's the one doing all the heavy lifting. I'm just along for the ride, and sometimes to punch things." 

The echo of his insecurity was there again, a bitter note under his offhanded dismissal of himself. Raleigh found himself thinking of all the times he had watched his own brother be the darling of the reporters and the media and even the deck crews, and how it had all fallen apart in the wake of losing Yancy. 

"You get back in the conn pod because you have to," he said at last, quietly. Sokka stilled, listening, and Raleigh turned away, looking out over the quiet sentinel shapes of the Jaegers. "Because _someone_ has to. Sometimes... sometimes all you can do is punch things. Sometimes that's all I did. Doesn't matter; if Yancy were still here, we'd still be a team, and I'll always see him in the Drift. Always." He breathed out, feeling empty inside, a hollow ache beneath his ribs. 

"Someday," he offered, "punching might not be enough, and you'll pay the price for it, or your sister will. But if there's still Kaiju and we're still fighting then you'll patch your wound, and you'll find another Drift partner, and you'll get back in the conn pod. Because someone has to. But the Kaiju... that's the only thing that's going to rip you apart. Because the Drift is forever."

There was silence after that, thick and still. Raleigh breathed around the feel of it and the sensation wasn't that of his nightmares but of something else - his brother's hand on his shoulder, the tight grip that meant 'I'm with you', there and gone - a chapter closed, a new book to open, wounds drained and aching but the initial fire subsiding. 

The real pressure was Sokka's fist, the boy tapping his knuckles lightly against Raleigh's shoulder. "Maybe I'll swing by your trials tomorrow," he offered with a small smile. "We can show those benders how real men fight. Just... get some sleep first, yeah?" 

He reached up to catch the railing and pulled himself smoothly to his feet, as fluid as the water he couldn't touch. Raleigh watched him go, making no move to get up himself. Leaning against the railing supports, he sat and listened to the echoing quiet of the hangar and the familiar, comforting hum of Gipsy Danger's core. 

"See you in the Drift," he whispered, and in his memory Yancy laughed and punched his shoulder. In the morning, he would face a roster of new recruits, and get back into the Jaeger, because someone had to. And maybe, he thought, just maybe that was okay.

*****

**Bonus Epilogue:**

Raleigh stared in confusion at the solid wall of a man who had just pried off his helmet, feeling Mako's surprise echo back to him just from the way she stiffened at his side. "You?" he asked. "But... you were with the engineering crew yesterday, I saw you..."

The man grimaced, scratching at the neatly trimmed line of his beard. "The Boulder," he rumbled in a deep voice and heavy Nations accent, indicating himself with a jerk of his thumb, "is conflicted."

"Yeah," a much lighter voice said from above them, as the second conn pod platform of the Blind Bandit descended, "because he hates admitting he's partnered with _me_."

The large man's grimace turned almost comical as he watched his smaller parner peel her helmet off. She was even shorter than Mako, Raleigh realized as the platform reached the ground, a tiny slip of a girl with long bangs that covered her eyes. "The Boulder," the man grumbled, "is conflicted about letting a tiny, blind girl face the might of the Kaiju."

"Keep telling yourself that, Pebble," the girl shot back. The man's face twisted some more, settling on a sour look of resignation. 

"The Boulder," he confided to them in a whisper that was anything but quiet, "is honorable, and will not feed small blind girls to Kaijus."

"I heard that," the girl called over her shoulder. Her partner rolled his eyes expressively as he stomped after her. 

Raleigh waited until they had quit the platform before turning to his own partner. "That was..."

"I had no idea," Mako admitted. Raleigh stifled a laugh, leaning over the rail to watch the unlikely pair head out of the hangar.


End file.
